1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a structure for preventing a gear shift lever from moving when a rear-end collision of a vehicle occurs, and more particularly, to a gear shift lever movement preventing structure which has a lever that is lowered downward by a ball that slides by inertia, and a protruding portion that is mounted on a vehicle body or a peripheral component (more particularly, an engaging lever) of a gear shift lever so as to block movement of the lever.
2. Description of Related Art
A gear shift lever of a vehicle mounted with an automatic transmission is mounted on the right side (on the left side, in accordance with a vehicle type) of a driver seat in the vehicle body, and configured to be sequentially movable between positions of respective stages of P (Park), R (Reverse), N (Neutral), and D (Drive).
The gear shift lever having a general structure has a locking structure in order to prevent an erroneous operation of a driver. That is, a switch is attached on an upper end of the gear shift lever, and a detent pin mounted on a lower end of the gear shift lever is raised or lowered in accordance with an operation of pushing the switch.
The detent pin slides along an inner circumferential surface of a hole formed in a detent plate, and a jaw is optionally formed at a position corresponding to each of the stages of P, R, N, and D in order to block sliding of the detent pin.
Therefore, the gear shift lever may be moved at a position where the jaw is formed, only in a state in which the detent pin is lowered by an operation of pushing the switch (or only in a state in which the detent pin is raised in accordance with a shape of the detent plate).
In a general automatic transmission structure, for operational convenience of a driver, when the gear shift lever is moved from a D-stage or an N-stage to an R-stage, the gear shift lever may be moved only in a state in which the switch is pushed (because the jaw is formed), but when the gear shift lever is moved from the R-stage to the D-stage or the N-stage, for a quick operation, the gear shift lever may be moved without pushing the switch.
However, in the aforementioned structure of the related art, when the vehicle collides with any object while traveling rearward or at the time of a rear-end collision in a state in which the gear shift lever is placed at the R-stage, the gear shift lever is likely to be moved from the R-stage to the D-stage by inertia, and this unintentional movement of the gear shift lever is likely to result in a secondary accident.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.